City of Olympus
by AmityRavenclawElf
Summary: (This was written prior to the release of City of Heavenly Fire and Blood of Olympus.) The war with Gaea is over, and the seven are flying the Argo II back to Camp Half-Blood when who should find them but our favorite New York Shadowhunters, who are caught between CoLS and CoHF. Soon, they find that Sebastian has started doing some interesting things in the demigods' world as well.
1. Chapter 1: Not Warlocks

"Look, guys, we don't want any trouble," Alec said, standing from his seat in the library of the Institute. "It's just that, when a bunch of warlocks fly a giant battleship over the city of New York, it's Clave business."

"Majorly," Isabelle added.

"We've told you a million times," Percy sighed, "we aren't warlocks."

"We're demigods," Frank added.

"Demigods?" Clary repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah. It means 'half-gods', like 'children of the gods'."

"We _know_ mythology and word origin," Alec replied coolly. "We're Nephilim."

"Nephilim?" most of the seven repeated perplexedly.

"Humans descended from angels," Annabeth clarified, only to receive a bunch of bblank stares from the other demigods. "Yes, children of Athena like to know stuff," she added.

"Athena?" Clary repeated. "That's Greek, isn't it?"

"Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare, yeah."

"And owls and weaving," Jace added matter-of-factly.

"Don't remind me," Annabeth groaned.

"But that doesn't explain what's _going on,"_ Isabelle protested, determined to get the conversation back on track.

"You guys are shadowhunters, aren't you?" Nico said, speaking for the first time and startling Leo, who stood in front of him.

"See?" Jace said, pointing at the much smaller boy. _"He_ knows us."

"I know _of _you," Nico answered with a shrug. "You guys are outside of my father's jurisdiction."

"Who's your father?" Clary asked warily.

"The Greek god of the Unerworld," Nico answered casually.

"Well, this is all great," Leo interjected, abandoning his mug of warm cocoa, "but can we wrap up this little meet and greet? I've got an immortal girlfriend trapped on an island."

"If she's immortal, then she's got plenty of time to wait," Jace said coolly.

Leo started steaming a bit at the comment, but his countenance broke into a tight grin. "Yes, but she's been waiting for several thousand years now, so it'd be great if we left, like, now."

"Guys, he's waking up!" Piper called from her spot on the floor, where the unconscious Jason was beginning to stir.

"Welcome back, Superman," Jace wisecracked.

"That hurt," Jason murmured.

"Yeah, sorry," Isabelle said, purely in the interest of social convention. "That was our warlock friend. He has a flare for the dramatic."

Jason sat up, bringing a hand to his head. "I thought this kind of thing would stop happening when we won the war."

"What war?" Clary asked.

"We do _not _have time to explain the whole Gaea thing," Percy protested. "It would take, like, a novel."

"Several novels," Annabeth agreed, running an idle hand through Percy's hair.

"We also don't have time for everyone to get all couply," Leo added.

"I don't see why not," Jace said, swinging Clary around and kissing her on the mouth.

"Hey, no fair," Isabelle whined. "Simon can't enter the Institute."

"And my boyfriend isn't here," Alec added.

"Boyfriend?" Nico repeated.

"You got a problem with that?" Alec asked.

Nico blushed and burrowed further into his aviator jacket. "No."

"Alec, he's like a mini-_you_," Isabelle crooned.

"Can we keep the focus, please?" Piper suggested forcefully.

"Quit trying to glamour us," Jace sighed. "We told you the first time; we're runed against that sort of thing."

"And _we_ told _you_ the first time that we have _no idea_ what that means," Percy sighed.

"So, to recap," Annabeth began, standing to Percy's protests, "you guys are Nephilim, also called Shadowhunters, whatever that means. We're Greek and Roman demigods. You have runes, which protect you from stuff, and special weapons. We have powers, which protect us from stuff, and special weapons. Does that sum it up?"

This met general consent.

"We fight demons," Alec added slowly.

"We fight monsters, Titans, and giants," Hazel offered.

"Only bad Titans and giants, though," Percy pointed out, remembering Bob. "We're also friends with satyrs, cyclopes, and nymphs."

"We're friends with warlocks, vampires, and werewolves," Clary said.

"Vampires and werewolves?" Leo repeated, suddenly interested. "Sweet. So, like, I'm guessing your dinner guests take their stakes really, really rare."

"Can this guy meet Simon?" Jace asked. "Can we just agree that this guy _has_ to meet Simon?"

"I think the world would explode," Clary mused.

"Back to the point," Piper suggested.

"We have a pet hellhound," Percy mentioned.

"We have…a cat," Alec said awkwardly.

"Guess we win that round," Percy chuckled.

"Look, guys, very seriously, my girlfriend is a goddess who likes to sing and make stuff, and I left her behind on an island and swore on the River Styx that I'd get her back, so if we could just make it back to Camp, that'd be super."


	2. Chapter 2: Fading

Jason looked around the room and asked the one question that seemed ample to cover everything: "So…you guys _aren't_ angry Romans?"

"Nope," Isabelle answered. "Just mildly confused Idrisans."

That's when Maryse entered the room. "Robert is on his way. So is Luke."

"Who are Robert and Luke?" Frank asked.

"The High Inquisitor and the Clave's representative for the werewolves," Jace answered.

"Also, their dad and mine," Clary added.

"What's the Clave?" Percy asked.

"Based on all the stuff carved on the walls," Jason began, "I assume it's their governing body. Am I right?"

"Yes," Alec answered.

"You read Latin?" Clary said.

"I'm Roman. Of course I read Latin."

"So, what I'm hearing is that we get to meet a werewolf," Leo mused.

"He's not coming to entertain you, toothpick," Jace remarked.

"Hey, man," Leo protested. "If anything, I'm a matchstick." He set his hand on fire briefly to prove his point. All of the Shadowhunters and a few of the demigods stumbled back. Leo just chuckled. "Son of Hephaestus. Beat that."

That's when Brother Zechariah entered, scaring Leo half to death.

_These creatures are new to me, _the Silent Brother's soundless voice droned in everyone's head, _but not to the Brotherhood._

"What do you mean?" Maryse asked.

_They operate under an entirely different system._

Nico began to approach Brother Zechariah with a peculiar look on his face."You aura," he said at last. "It's strange. Not like his." (He gestured at Jace.) "He just _cheated_ death, like..." (He glanced at Hazel, who winced, before returning his dark gaze to the cloaked figure before him.) "But you...You're like a dead man walking. You never cheated death; it's still holding you...but it's starting to fade." To everyone's surprise, the Son of Hades then reached out to touch the Silent Brother, as though he were taking his temperature. Brother Zechariah shivered, and Nico removed his hand slowly. "Yep. Definitely fading. You're becoming more alive by the moment."

_You understand, Son of Hades, that I can not believe that, _the Silent Brother tthought to Nico only.

Nico smiled his grim smile. "I understand."

"But what _are_ they, if they aren't warlocks?" Maryse demanded.

"WE ARE DEMIGODS!" the seven roared.

"Look, since you guys are set on keeping us here, cann we at least Iris message our friends before they worry?" Leo asked.

"What's an Iris message?" Jace asked.

Leo grinned. "Oh, dudes, you don't wanna miss this. You guys got a rainbow anywhere?"


	3. Chapter 3: The Boy in the Rainbow

Jace, Clary, and Alec decided to lead Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and Piper to the Institute's fountain for their Iris message, leaving Hazel, Frank, Nico, and Jason in the library with Isabelle and Maryse. (Brother Zechariah left.)

The walk down the hallway was tense.

"So, you can catch fire?" Jace said to Leo, who was twitchily looking at everything they passed as though he wanted to disassemmble it and rebuild it. "So can I." He raised a hand, and it began to glow slightly orange.

"Yeah?" Leo replied. "Show me."

"No!" Clary protested. "That could kill him! It's _heavenly_ fire!"

"It's not a superpower if you can't use it, dude."

"Okay, so I have fire that I _can't_ control, and I look like_ this_; you have fire that you _can_ control, and you look like _that._ Who won here?" Jace raised a cocky eyebrow.

"I'm dating a goddess and you're dating Carrot top. You tell me." Leo flashed his grin and made a finger gun at Jace, who glowered at him.

Annabeth managed to change the subject: "Look at that _ceiling_. How long do you think _that_ took?"

"We're Shadowhunters," Alec said. "We get work done fast."

"We're demigods. We rebuilt Olympus," Annabeth replied without looking away from the ceiling art.

"This isn't a competition," Piper protested.

"You've got that right," Jace murmured with a scornful side-glance at the demigods.

...

Despite Nico's obviously introverted "don't-mess-with-me" disposition, Isabelle chose to approach him.

He looked up at her with dark blue eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I just want to know if that surfer dude with the pretty green eyes knows you have the hots for him."

Hazel turned away from Frank with widened eyes._ "What?!"_

Isabelle examined Nico's pinkening visage and said, "I'll take that as a general 'nope'."

"I don't talk about it," Nico said firmly, then added hastily, "And I don't have the hots for him, either! I had a crush, but it's over now. I don't talk about this."

"You should," Isabelle urged. "At the least, I'm bored enough now to talk about anything."

"I'm not."

"Fine. Sit over here making shadow puppets or whatever you do. I'll just talk to Skull of Steel over there."

Jason made a face as though he was not looking forward to the conversation.

...

"This is how it works," Annabeth said, tossing a golden drachma into the rainbow made by the fountain mist and murmuring the words to Iris. Slowly but surely, an image flared to life: an image of the inside of Athena's Cabin in Camp Half Blood.

But something was wrong.

The Cabin was completely empty, despite the time of day, but for one lone stranger with light blond hair, who was reading from a paper that some Child of Athena discarded.

"Sebastian!" the Shadowhunters cried.

The boy in the rainbow looked up and saw the mirage before him and all of the stunned faces and grinned. "Well, this is embarassing."


	4. Chapter 4: When A Door Closes

"Is that guy a bad guy?" Leo asked, removing a hammer from his tool belt and twirling it in his hands, "because I'm getting a major _bad guy_ vibe, and I don't llike it."

"He looks like...if Octavian started lifting weights but didn't finish," Percy mused.

Sebastian cleared his throat and looked as though he were about to speak, but Percy lifted a hand.

"Hold up, though, hold up," he rambled on. "Seriously, who_ is_ that guy?"

Sebastian looked beyond exasperated, now. "I am Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, son of Valentine and future ruler of this pathetic world."

"Got it," Leo said. "Bad guy."

"I haven't heard of you," Annabeth said, leaning toward the rainbow image with interest, "and I've heard of _everyone_."

"_They've_ heard of me," Sebastian said, gesturing at the still-shell-shocked Shadowhunters with a malevolent grin. "Haven't you? Brother? Sister? Freak?"

"We know who you are, obviously," said Jace at last. "What we _don't_ know is why you're inside a rainbow."

"It's an Iris message. I'll leave it to your idiot demigod friends to explain later."

"He just called us idiots," Leo noted.

"What are you doing in my Cabin?" Annabeth demanded.

_"There's_ the smart question," Sebastian replied with a patronizing expression. "I knew you had it in you, wisdom's daughter."

"Let's hope you have an answer in you," Percy said, raising Riptide threateningly.

"You can't hurt me in an Iris message," Sebastian chuckled. "To be precise, you couldn't hurt me outside of one either."

"We just took down Gaea," Leo pointed out. "Whatever threat you faced in these guys," (He pointed at the Shadowhunters.) "it's nothing compared to us."

"Toothpick," Jace muttered, but Sebastian talked over him:

"That may be, but _you're_ nothing compared to _me_. Aren't you wondering where the rest of your precious _camp_ is?" He reached out to his sides and pulled two other figures, both bound, into view.

"Grover! Rachel!" Percy shouted.

"He's got all of the Aphrodite and Athena and most of the Hermes," Rachel said quickly. "The rest ran."

Sebastian dropped Rachel onto the floor and out of view and kicked her.

"Stop that!" Percy shouted.

Sebastian looked up and smiled at him. "What can I say? I have a thing for red heads." He sent Clary a wink, and she blanched. "See you guys soon!"

Grover had just enough time to bleat, "Perrrrcy!" Before the image vanished and the demigods and Shadowhunters found themselves staring intently at nothing but fountain water.

...

Rachel focused on forcing air into her lungs for the first few moments while Sebastian dropped Grover onto the floor of the cabin and continued to pick up stray books and papers. Once he'd arranged everything into a pile, he set it on a bunk and fixed his gaze on Rachel once more.

"You suck," Rachel told him preemptively.

"Do I?" Sebastian stooped down and grabbed onto her arm with bruising force, lifting her and sitting her down on another bunk. Then he just stared at her unnervingly. "You're the Oracle," he said matter-of-factly.

"You're the Bieber wannabe," Rachel replied, noting his haircut.

Without warning, Sebastian smacked her across the face. The blow stung like mad, but his tone was smooth and sweet when he said, "You didn't let me finish. That was rude."

Grover started yelling on the ground, but Sebastian simply strode over to him, kicked him in the head to knock him out (despite Rachel's protests) and returned to his original position. Then he grinned in a slow, deliberate way that made Rachel's stomach turn. "I'd like it very much if you could predict something for me."

...

"Where's Chiron?" Annabeth whispered during the walk back to the library. "_That's_ what I should've asked: Where's Chiron?"

"_I_ should've tried charmspeaking," Piper muttered.

"It would've been a waste of time," Jace sighed. "He's got runes, too. And he told us everything he wanted us to know."

"I'm going back to camp," Percy announced. "Right now." _Blackjack, _he thought as loudly and urgently as he could.

"No, you're not," Alec answered. "That's what Sebastian wants."

"Well, he's about to get his wish," Percy said darkly.

"And he may want to return it," Leo added, twirling his hammer again.

They entered the library, then, and saw that Frank and Hazel were lounging cozily, Maryse was reading, Nico was sulking in a corner, and Isabelle was conversing with a strained-looking Jason. She chuckled hearitly at the boy's discomfort...until she saw the others' faces.

With one glance at Alec and Jace, she knew.

"Sebastian?" she whispered, causing Maryse to drop her book and leap to her feet.

"What happened?" the woman demanded.

"What happened is we're going back to camp," Percy announced, and the rest of the seven and Nico instantly stood to their feet.

"None of you are going anywhere," said another voice as Robert Lightwood entered, followed by a weary-looking Luke.

"Look, we don't have time for this," Leo said, and he made for the door, but Robert grabbed his arm.

"Downworlders should _make_ time for the Clave," he said sternly.

Leo rolled his eyes and allowed his arm to catch fire. Robert yelled and yanked his hand away, and Leo chuckled. "Seriously, dude, we're out. We've got major bad guy booty to kick."

"Sebastian showed up at their camp," Alec said.

Robert glanced at his son and then hastily away. "Where is this camp?"

Annabeth told him.

"Maryse," said Robert, "go inform the Clave of this...appearance. In the meantime, none of you are leaving."

With an exasperated sigh, Percy ran to the nearest window.

"That's much too far a jump," Maryse told him, but he ignored her and plunged Riptide into the glass.

"Stop him!" Robert roared, but Percy was already leaping out into open air, only to be caught by a black pegasus and carried off into the distance.


	5. Chapter 5: The Universe's Paradox

Immediately following Percy's departure, Frank turned into a falcon and swooped off to follow him, much to the Shadowhunters' shock.

"Arion's on his way," Hazel told Piper, then turned to Jason. "Mind giving us a lift?"

Jason nodded and carried the two of them out the window.

That was when Robert threw himself in front of the newfound exit, looking flushed. "No one else is leaving!"

Nico rolled his eyes and sighed before beckoning to the other two demigods. "Valdez...Annabeth..." The two neared him, and Leo went so far as to grab onto the son of Hades' hand before Nico protested, "Don't touch me," and he hastily removed it. Then the three of them melted into shadows.

Robert made a sound of distress. "What is happening?!" he demanded from everyone in the room.

"I'd conclude that the so-called Downworlders just successfully exited the Institute and you were the only one to make any effort to stop them," Luke mused.

Clary nudged Jace. _"Portal,"_ she whispered. _"My room. Let's go."_

...

Sebastian had slapped her several times before Rachel felt the familiar warmth in her chest. The feeling soon spread until it was a pleasant tingling that reached all the way to her fingertips, and she closed her eyes, trying, for the first time, to resist the process, but the words came bubbling out:

_The universe's paradox_

_Will come to meet his match_

_The storm shall wither to an end_

_And fire start to catch_

_The scourge of the Clave will meet conviction_

_In Athena's contradiction_

_Death will take the Devil's squire_

_And the Earth will bake in heavenly fire!_

Rachel gasped and opened her eyes. All the symptoms of Delphi had gone, and she was now looking at a pensive-faced Sebastian. After a few moments, the dark eyes refocused on Rachel, and the demon boy removed a knife from his belt. "What did that mean?" he asked.

"I don't _know!"_ Rachel shouted, loudly enough to stir Grover. "I never know! It just sort of..._happens_."

Sebastian nodded much too understandingly, all the while grabbing a desk chair so as to sit across from Rachel, very near. He then moved his knife until he was holding it just in front of her face. Rachel went cross-eyed to keep the weapon in view. "Well," Sebastian said, his voice soft as velvet, "let's see if we can't make it _happen_ again."

...

Shadow travel was not kind to Leo.

It caused him to vomit up his cocoa, and he knew that Mr. D would kill him for ruining the strawberry bushes.

It was immediately evident that something was awry; the camp was practically silent.

Without a word, Annabeth donned her Invisibility Cap and took off towards Athena's cabin at a sprint. Leo was about to follow her assumed path when there was a startling _whoosh_ sound behind him, and Clary, Jace, Isabelle, and Alec tumbled out of a Portal.

_"Are you guys nuts?" _Leo whispered. "_How'd you even find us?"_

_"You left your mug of cocoa,"_ Clary answered. _"I used a rune to use that to Portal to wherever you were."_

_"Right. A rune. That clears things up."_

_"We've got two werewolves and a vampire on the way," _Isabelle added.

_"You guys don't have a lot of friends, do you?"_

That was when Percy arrived on Blackjack. He dropped to the ground beside the group. "Where are Annabeth and the others?"

_"Annabeth went invisible on us a few seconds ago, and the others followed you the slow way."_

Arion arrived, then, with an indignant snort, followed by Jason's wind horse, Tempest.

_"Great. The gang's all here," _Leo noted while the riders were dismounting. _"Ready to bash some heads?"_

"Not so fast, kiddies," chided a childish voice, and a sundress-clad Maureen strode into view.

"Who are you?" Piper asked.

"Rogue vampire," Alec said.

"How old is she?" Leo asked.

"Thirteen," Clary answered.

"Right, but _vampire_-wise, how old is she?"

"Thirteen."

"Then why are we scared?"

Maureen giggled. "Because I've got an army of other vampires, silly demigod!" She clapped her hands, and the figures began to emerge.

Leo's eyes widened a bit, and he nodded. "Ohhhhh..."


	6. Chapter 6: Henchman

All of the measures that Annabeth took not to make noise when she entered Athena's cabin were ultimately wasted: Sebastian wasn't there. Grover and Rachel were, though. Grover was unconscious on the floor with what seemed like a pretty bad blow to the head, and Rachel lay unconscious on one of the bunks. It only took one glance to see that she was hurt even more.

Silently, Annabeth knelt beside Grover and began to cut his bonds away with her new, unfamiliar dagger. He let out a groan, and she wished he wouldn't; she already felt so vulnerable, despite her invisibility.

Once the ropes were gone from his wrists, Annabeth nudged Grover awake. _"Grover?"_ she breathed. _"Come on, you crazy goat. You gotta wake up. You gotta run."_

Grover's eyes opened, but he saw nothing.

_"Run," _Annabeth whispered again.

_"Annabeth?"_ Grover said, standing up.

"_Get out of here,"_ Annabeth advised. _"I've got Rachel."_ There was no way the satyr could carry the Oracle in this state; he could barely carry his own weight.

Grover exited as quickly as he could.

Meanwhile, Annabeth moved on to Rachel, and she soon saw that the human girl was even more battered than she originally appeared. Her face was bruised and scratched in places, and there were long knife cuts on her arms. On her right forearm, in elegant writing, the word "MORTAL" was carved into the flesh, entirely capitalized. While she worked on removing the bonds at her wrists, Annabeth wondered what Sebastian wanted with Rachel, what he had thought hurting her would accomplish...and what it had.

Very suddenly, there was a muscled arm snaking around Annabeth's midriff, turning her around, and then a hand pinning her to the wall by her throat. "Did they not explain _runes_ to you?" Sebastian asked with soft incredulity. "Shadowhunters can see through glamours, Goldilocks."

...

It only took a moment to determine that the eleven of them were completely surrounded by a horde of at least two hundred vampires, and even more enemies were emerging from the shadows.

"Maureen, what are you doing here?" Clary asked.

"Jonathan's a hottie and he asked for my help," the girl answered with a blank shrug.

"I thought you were crushing on Simon," Alec protested.

"Jonathan's hotter! Geez." Maureen rolled her eyes and casually waved for her numerous cohorts to advance. "Boy bands are so_ over_."

"Hey! Hey! I'm hot!" Jace said, drawing Maureen's attention. "Look at me: Hottie with a question."

Maureen lifted a hand to pause her fleet.

"Where's Raphael?"

Maureen giggled. "Oh, well see, I killed _him_ when he told me he didn't want to follow me."

Percy raised his hand. "Hey! Another hottie with another question!"

"Fine, but this is the last one."

"Of course. Yeah. I was just wondering what your exact orders were."

"Orders?"

"From What's-His-Name," Percy clarified.

"I don't get _orders_."

"I was just asking because your relationship with What's-His-Name seems kinda henchmany in nature."

Maureen scoffed. "I am not a _henchman_."

"Ohhhhh," Percy said, drawing out the word so as to add a bit of doubt. He turned to Leo and said, overexaggeratedly, "She's 'not a henchman'."

"Riiiiiiiight," Leo agreed with the same patronizing tone.

"I'm not!" Maureen was turning red.

"So you could do whatever you want?" Piper asked fairly.

"Yes!" Maureen answered immediately.

"Even free us?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it!"

"Yeah! No," Maureen blinked and shook her head, frowning. "Wait, no. I don't want to free you."

"Aww, sure you do," Piper urged with a coy smile.

"No." Maureen shook her head. "I want to kill you. Attack!"

...

_I still have my knife, _Annabeth thought desperately. Sebastian was too focused on her struggling face to really pay attention to the dagger in her hand. His inattentiveness would be good for one swing and one swing only. She used it to jab the tip of the blade into his armpit (an action with inevitably reminded her of Luke). The boy howled and dropped her. Annabeth started to run, but then Sebastian threw a blade of his own, and it caught her in the back of the knee, effectively grounding her.

_No! Get up! _she ordered herself, then noticed Sebastian's stance. He wasn't interested in chatting; not while she was still capable of escape. She decided, then, to instead pretend that her injury had completely incapacitated her. "Ow!" she yelled, making her leg go limp. "You know, you won't be able to use me for anything if I bleed out first!"

Sebastian snickered at the complaint and relaxed, if only slightly. "What makes you think I plan to use you for anything?"

Annabeth raised a trembling hand (really played up the trembling) to move a lock of hair out of her face before answering. "You didn't break my neck when you could've."

"I could've," Sebastian agreed, seeming pleased at the recognition.

"So what do are you assuming you can use me for?" Annabeth asked, twirling her dagger in seemingly-idle circles against the floorboards.

Sebastian moved closer, fixing her with his black eyes. She didn't look away. _I've been to Tartarus and back, you creep, _Annabeth thought. _I've seen scarier things than you. _"I'll tell you all about it on the way." Then he grabbed her upper arm, not gently, and yanked her to her feet, eliciting a shriek.

"Where are we going?" Annabeth asked.

"Someplace far," Sebastian replied vaguely. "Far away. But first I need to pick up my lovely siblings. You wait in the car."

"Car?" And then they were out behind the cabin, and Annabeth _saw_. "Oh, Styx."

Sebastian grinned when he noticed her expression. "Did I forget to mention? I stole Apollo's chariot."

...

The battle was easier than Jace thought possible. Of course, battle wasn't usually very difficult for him, anyway. No; what surprised him were the demigods. They weren't as magestic and fluid as the Shadowhunters, but they could carry their own. _More_ than carry their own. They really brought the hurt. Jace found himself sincerely enjoying the fight side-by-side with Percy Jackson.

He just wished that Alec wouldn't keep looking at him like he was about to burst into flames.

That was when he remembered that he was probably about to burst into flames. He looked down at himself and saw that the upper half of his gear was beginning to fall away. Well, great.

Lightning struck a whole line of vampires dead, and someone shouted out a swear word. Jace turned and saw that the Daylighter and the werewolves had arrived. (Over the din, Percy yelled, "How are all of these people getting in?!") Simon's face slackened, and Jace thought that he was taking in the scope of the disaster, but then he shouted, "Clary!"

It was Jace's turn to curse when he turned around and saw Clary being dragged away from the battlefield by Maureen. He only glanced at the battle raging around him for a fraction of a nanosecond before he sprinted after them.


	7. Chapter 7: Sharpie Graffiti

_Any sign of her?_ Percy asked Blackjack.

_Not yet, boss, _Blackjack replied. _She _is_ kinda invisible though..._

_Keep looking._

_Oh, hey! I found the satyr!_

_Grover?_

_Yeah. He's passed out next to the Demeter Cabin. Slightly injured. Not too bad. Should I bring him over there?_

Percy looked at Jason, the Shadowhunters, Simon, and the werewolves. _Yeah. We're about done cleaning up here. Are the others on their way back with the ambrosia?_

_Um...yep. There they are. Meet you in a sec, boss._

Percy sighed. That battle had taken a lot out of him, but he couldn't rest until he knew that Annabeth was okay.

Of course, he wasn't the only one who was pacing in worry rather than focusing on the job at hand; he collided directly with Alec, who was scratching his head. "Jace and Clary should be back by now," he murmured.

"Do you sense that anything's up?" Isabelle asked him.

"No," Alec sighed. "That's what worries me. Everything's too calm."

Blackjack arrived, then, carrying the unconscious Grover.

"Let me guess," Jordan called. "That's also not a warlock."

"He's a satyr," Percy said distractedly as he neared Grover. The poor goat had an obvious head injury, but he was breathing fine.

"I thought they were called fauns," Simon interjected. "You know, like from Narnia."

"If it's Roman, it's a faun; if it's Greek, it's a satyr," Jason explained.

"How are you supposed to know the difference?" Maia asked.

"Do satyrs get mad if you call them fauns?" Simon asked.

"Ohhhhh yeah," Jason and Percy answered in unison.

Grover jerked awake then. Percy was startled by the look in his eyes. Grover usually woke up serene and murmuring about food, but now he looked wild, and the first words out of his mouth were, "Rachel! She was hurt! And Annabeth...Where are Rachel and Annabeth?"

Percy felt himself blanch. So he was right; there _was_ something wrong. Without another word, he started at a run toward the Athena cabin. Simon rushed to block his way. "Hey, man, stop!" the Daylighter cried. "Look, you haven't met Sebastian, but I have. Trust me; you need to stay with the group."

"I need to find Annabeth," Percy argued, pushing at Simon's shoulder, but Simon grabbed onto him with vampire strength.

"But see, we have a problem," he said frankly, "because if you leave and go poking Sebastian with a stick, he might come back here and mess with my friends, and that's not okay. Do yourself a favor and don't do anything stupid."

"Do yourself a favor and let go of me so I can find my girlfriend."

Simon looked into Percy's eyes and seemed to realize how serious he was about finding Annabeth, and he was about to let go when Nico di Angelo materialized out of the shadows, hand-in-hand with a pale, injured, barely-standing Rachel. "I was just in Athena's cabin," the son of Hades said grimly.

"Where's Annabeth?" Percy asked instantly.

"He took her," Rachel said frailly, making Percy's blood freeze. "I saw them leave."

"This was stabbed in the floorboards," Nico said, handing Percy Annabeth's new dagger with a strangely steady look in his eyes. "She also carved a note."

"What did it say?" Jason asked, since Percy couldn't speak at the moment.

"'Needs me alive'," Nico answered solemnly.

...

Of course, Annabeth would never admit it out loud, but Sebastian drove Apollo's chariot more smoothly than Apollo did.

He arranged the seating so that Annabeth sat in the front with him (bound with a blindfold, naturally) and the unconscious Jace and Clary lay in the back.

"So, runes are basically Sharpie graffiti that can do anything?" Annabeth asked.

Sebastian chuckled. _Good. Let him relax. _He didn't answer, however.

"Like make people pass out and help you see through illusions?" Annabeth prompted.

Still no answer.

"You said you'd tell me about your diabolical plan," Annabeth pointed out, hoping to get him talking.

"Yes..."

Annabeth felt the chariot turn. That was about 45 degrees southeast. _Are we going to another continent?_

"Do you know what a Shadowhunter is, Half-Blood?"

"Spawn of humans and angels, apparently fight demons, use runes and seraph blades, very self-righteous."

"Do you know how Shadowhunters are made if they aren't born of the Nephilim?"

There had been a painting of that on the wall of the Institute. "Don't you drink from some Cup of Destiny?"

"The Mortal Cup, yes. That's a cup with celestial allignment, and it makes angel people. What do you think happens when there's a cup with demonic allignment?"

_Adjusting angle, now. Dead east. Are we going to Europe?_

"Come on, you're smart. Figure it out, Athena's daughter."

Right. He'd asked a question. "Demon people?" Annabeth asked cautiously.

"So you_ are_ catching on."

Annabeth tensed. _He was serious? _"And what part are the demigods supposed to play in your plan?" she asked stiffly, fighting the urge to tell him how insane he was.

There was amusement in his tone when Sebastian answered, "Test subjects."

...

When everyone was _iratze_-d and ambrosia-ed up and Rachel and the Downworlders were treated with a healthy barrage of AB ointment and Band-Aids, the group met in the Big House to plan ahead.

"Hey's got Apollo's chariot," Rachel said. "He'll be moving fast."

"Not as fast as a Portal," Isabelle answered. "Which begs the question: Why would he steal an Olympian flying chariot if he can Portal?"

"Maybe because he's a show-off?" Leo proposed.

"Maybe to rob us of a resource," Alec suggested in a monotone.

"It's just a super fast burning chariot, right?" Simon asked. "Not, like, the Death Star?"

"The _what?"_ Hazel asked, eyes wide.

"The chariot is an instument of the gods," Jason interjected before Simon could answer. "It's bound to be at least slightly useful."

"It doesn't matter why he took the chariot," Percy said firmly. "What matters is where he's going with it, what he's doing, and how we're going to stop him." He raised Annabeth's dagger and looked at the Shadowhunters. "You can track things, can't you? That's how you got here: tracking us with Leo's cocoa?"

_"Clary_ can track things," Isabelle answered. "We don't have the rune power."

"There is someone we could call," Simon said slowly, and the tension in their half of the room increased.

"Who?" the demigods demanded at once.

It was Alec who answered, somberly: "Magnus Bane."


	8. Chapter 8: Drama Queen

Immediately following Sebastian's verbalization of his crazy plan, Annabeth's heart thudded at a sickening pace, and she found herself trying as best she could to kick the psychopath in the jaw. The sound he made when she successfully made impact was satisfying, but then he caught hold of Annabeth's ankle and twisted it until it snapped. Tears streamed down Annabeth's face as she struggled to avoid screaming.

_Don't lose focus, _she ordered herself. _Calm down. You're in danger. _She took a deep breath and asked, in a tone that casually dismissed all that had happened previously, "So what do you need me for, then? You already have my whole cabin and others."

"Take a guess," Sebastian said quietly.

_He keeps making me guess at things, _Annabeth observed. _He's playing mind games. Maybe that's why he needs me. That's probably also why he chose Athena and Aphrodite's cabins as his first targets. They can mess with people's minds. And Hermes is pretty tricky, too._

"Are you giving me the silent treatment, Goldilocks?" Sebastian asked.

_If he's making us all into soldiers for him, then he'll want Percy and Leo and the others, too. So I'm probably also bait. He'll want the others to find me. He'll probably let me contact them, make me think I'm breaking the rules when I'm really playing into his hand..._

A flash of burning pain lept across Annabeth's face as Sebastian slashed at her cheek with his knife.

She squared her shoulders, but she couldn't help shrieking in surprise. "What was that for?" she demanded steadily.

"Answer me when I'm talking to you," Sebastian replied simply.

A bit of light entered through Annabeth's blindfold, which was slightly torn, now. She shook her head, and it fell away. What she saw through the windshield of Apollo's chariot was nothing short of paradise. She looked down at an island that was all green grass and vibrant flowers and blue sea that made her think of Percy.

"Ogygia," Sebastian said with a smile, pulling in for a landing. "I hope you won't mind the crowd."

...

Magnus wouldn't answer his phone, so Piper, Isabelle, Simon, and Nico were sent to convince him to help them. They Portaled out of the Big House directly into the hallway outside of Magnus's door.

Piper was the one who knocked. _Knock, knock, knock-knock, knock. _"Mr. Bane?"

"Who dares to disturb my slumber?" a voice droned.

Isabelle then took it upon herself to bang on the door. "Magnus, quit being a drama queen and open up!"

There was a sigh and the sound of someone standing. "Oh, great. The Nephilim are here. Well, I'm busy."

"You said you were sleeping," Simon pointed out.

"Shut up, Sherman." Magnus opened the door, revealing that he was dressed in a robe, bunny slippers, and striped rainbow pants with a hooped earring in one ear and his hair as spiked and sparkly as always. "Didn't you get the memo? I'm through helping you guys. Alec and I broke up...shortly after I zapped Blond Superman. The Lightworm tried to shorten my life."

"He didn't try to shorten your life," Isabelle replied dismissively.

"Lightworm?" Piper repeated confusedly.

"This guy is Alec's boyfriend?" Nico observed.

"Yep," Isabelle answered. "And he's _wayyyyyyy_ out of the closet."

"What closet?" Magnus quipped.

"Listen, Mr. Bane," Piper began, "we'd just really appreciate it if you'd use your magic to help us find our friends and defeat Sebastian."

Magnus stared at Piper. "Is Chipewa Barbie trying to glamour me?"

Piper deflated.

"Seriously, does your power work on _any_one?" Simon asked.

"Watch it, Spencer," Magnus warned. "You're not a Shadowhunter _or_ a warlock. She could probably have you drinking the blood out of your own wrist veins."

"Ew," Piper murmured.

"Could you help us though?" Simon asked.

"It's just a tracking spell," Nico added. "Nothing major."

"Nothing major," Magnus sighed, fixing his catlike eyes on Nico. "Have you _met_ them? One second it's just a tracking spell, the next you're summoning Azazel."

Nico tilted his head. "Are you immortal?" he asked rather out of the blue.

"No thanks to Alec," Magnus answered pointedly, causing Isabelle to roll her eyes.

"I can tell," Nico said quietly.

"Are you gay?" Magnus asked, his face blankly calculating.

Nico blushed and didn't answer.

"I can tell," Magnus said confidentially. Then, in a grander tone, "I'll help you guys. But, this had better not come back to bite me."

"The end of the world? I daresay it is biting all of us," said a new voice.

The five of them turned and saw two figures at the end of the hallway. One was a pleasant-looking, brown-haired girl. The other...

"Okayyy," Isabelle said, "when did Brother Zechariah get hot?"

...

Annabeth was locked in a basement with Jace. The Shadowhunter was still unconscious (He was beginning to rival even Jason's track record.), so Annabeth spent her time going over the facts in her head.

1: She was on Ogygia.

2: Leo's girlfriend lived on Ogygia.

3: Leo's girlfriend was currently in chains.

4: A large amount of other demigods were also in chains.

5: Sebastian had a few ready-made soldiers guarding the place.

6: Apollo's chariot was the only sure way on or off of the island.

7: Sebastian was ready to use the Demon Cup on her at any moment.

Once the facts were all present and accounted for, Annabeth set about determining her assets. Her dagger was gone. Her cap was useless. Her laptop was left on the Argo II, oh joy. Nothing in her pockets. Nothing in Jace's pockets (Yes, she checked.). The room was completely barren, even of dust.

Even of dust.

Of course. It was perfectly clean, because Calypso's home was full of magic.

Annabeth thought about Percy's and Leo's stories about the island and remembered one specific detail: singing. Calypso was always singing, and it caused things to happen.

Feeling completely idiotic, Annabeth opened her mouth and sang (to a rather vague tune), "Heyyy door, do you wanna open? I was kinda hopin' you'd...opennnn." She sighed and ran a hand over her face when nothing occured.

"What was that?" Jace asked groggily.

"That was me trying to sing the door open," Annabeth answered. "To fill you in, Sebastian captured us and Clary, and we're now locked in a basement on an island that only a handful of heroes have ever seen."

"Clary?" Jace repeated. "Where's Clary?"

"I don't know," Annabeth answered. "I guess he kept her with him."

Before she was even finished speaking, Jace had lept to his feet and was slamming his fists against the door. "SEBASTIAN, YOU **(beep)**, LET US OUT!"

"Brilliant strategy," Annabeth muttered while Jace continued to yell.


	9. Chapter 9: She's On An Island

Calypso was not used to _people_.

Being chained in a room full of adolescent demigods, therefore, was already overwhelming.

Then there was the fact that the demigods kept talking. There were the children of Athena, who were whispering startegies to one another (Not too bad. Actually, fascinating.), the handful of Hermes kids, most notably the Stoll brothers, who were yammering about whatever popped into their heads in order to distract the guards from the Athena kids' planning (Annoying, but it served a purpose, so Calypso managed to tolerate it.), and then there was Aphrodite Cabin.

By the River Styx, they would not _shut up_.

The imminent danger only seemed to move them when they wanted to discuss which dreamy action hero would be most suitable to save them. Many of them mentioned Percy Jackson, which made Calypso conflicted and uncomfortable.

_Leo Valdez is coming, _she thought. _Leo Valdez swore. _But so many had sworn.

"Could you stop that?" an Athena kid asked Calypso suddenly.

"Stop what?" she asked.

"You were humming."

Oh. Yes. She hadn't noticed her humming, but it was her natural response to distress. Her invisible servants always responded to her singing. They had been the one constant in her life for countless years, and now, with a funny mark on the wall and a sly grin, the blond-haired boy had made them all disappear (ironically enough).

She murmured an apology to the Athena kid and tried to relax in her chains. _Leo is coming, _she told herself. _Fire Boy will come._

...

"Do you know Iris?" Frank asked Magnus conversationally.

"I can't say I do," Magnus answered.

"I've met her."

"Tell her I love her work." He turned his sparkly head, then, to look at Jem and Tessa, who were sitting together on his couch. "So, no more yin fen? You're all good?"

"It would seem so," answered Jem, who seemed rather entranced by everything, now that he was no longer a Silent Brother and could experience true awe.

"Well, good for you, James."

"You still haven't found Annabeth?" asked Percy as he entered the room with a glass of blue Kool Aid.

"I'm working on it, Sea Breeze. Tracking spells are kinda tricky with Sebastian. It's not like pulling a rabbit out of a hat."

"What are you tracking her with?" Tessa asked gently.

Magnus held up the dagger. "This knife."

Tessa took the knife from him, closed her eyes, and slowly began to morph into Annabeth.

Percy stared at her.

"She is in pain," Tessa said quietly.

"Where is she?" Percy asked.

"She's in a basement...on an island..."

"What island?"

"Oh...Well, that's hard to pronounce. Oh-GEE...Oh-GEE-gee..."

That was when Leo lept to his feet in shock. "OH MY GOSH!"

...

Annabeth wasn't overly alarmed by Jace's behavior until he started glowing orange. Even then, it wasn't until his tirade began to leave scorch marks on the walls that she commenced begging the boy to calm down.

Then he turned on her, and she was alarmed by the fire raging in his eyes. "What's he done to her?" he demanded.

Very aware of her ankle injury, Annabeth raised herself to her knees before slowly answering, "She wasn't hurt when he carried her away."

The fire inside Jace pulsed dangerously, but he was clearly making an effort to control it, now. "Of course she wasn't hurt _before_ he carried her away," he said with a barely-restrained tone.

Annabeth rose to stand, then, placing all of her weight on her good foot and striving to see past the spots in her vision. "Think about where we are, Jace. We're trapped. This is not a time to flame out. Clary needs you."

These words empowered Jace to turn his skin tone to something less...radioactive Jersey Shore.

"So what do we have?" he asked tensely.

"Thus far, a bodyload of flames," Annabeth mused, "but it wouldn't be wise to use it."

"I don't care what's _wise."_

"I do, and I haven't been passed out or on fire recently, so maybe I should do the planning."

Jace's head whipped around, then, very suddenly. "Someone's outside the door."

Then came the echoey, maniacal chuckle as Sebastian turned a key in the lock and entered the basement room. "Don't mind me. I just enjoyed hearing Goldilocks put you in your place, little brother."

"Where is Clary?" Jace demanded.

"I don't answer questions," Sebastian replied boredly. "I'm here for the smart one, and we both know that isn't _you."_ His eyes were on Annabeth, then.

"I don't know, I'm pretty smart," Jace mused dryly. "For instance, I'm smart enough to know that you never do anything for no reason. If you took the risk of dragging all those demigods out here, things must be escalating pretty fast with the Clave. Am I right?"

"Come with me, daughter of Athena," Sebastian ordered, ignoring Jace altogether.

"My ankle is injured," Annabeth pointed out.

"When has that stopped you before?"

"Have you been _spying_ on me, Sebastian?"

"You should know that for every time you try my patience, a Half-blood will be killed. Now come along, and let's put you to use."


	10. Chapter 10: The Call

"Can you go any faster?" Alec asked.

"Can you help any more?" Leo answered back with a very forced smile.

"Guys, we need to try putting aside our differences for, like, six seconds and actually getting something done," Piper urged, trying in vain to fill the logical void that had been left by Annabeth.

"It's like Romans versus Greeks all over again," Hazel agreed.

"Don't go Wonder Pets on us, girls," Leo pleaded in exasperation. "What's gonna work isn't teamwork; what's gonna work is Zappy Finger Dude helping me with my crystal tracker and everyone else getting ready for a battle and leaving the workmen to their task."

"We're ready to go," Jordan said. "We're just waiting on you guys."

"Well, you and the rest of the Twilight cast can wait outside."

"Last time I waited outside, my _parabatai_ was abducted," Alec said darkly.

"And that sucks, and we're working as fast as we can, but-"

"Everybody out," Percy ordered simply.

With slight hesitation, the room cleared. Only Magnus, Leo, Tessa, Jem, and Percy remained.

"This is insane," Magnus sighed, reviewing all of Leo's notes. "Really, really insane."

"I second that insanity," Leo concurred, handing Magnus a crystal.

"It could work though," Magnus noted incredulously. "Since when are heroes so useful at this stuff?"

"On behalf of my people, I take great offense," Jem replied with an easy smile.

"You know what I mean..."

"Guys," Nico said, startling everyone as they suddenly noticed him in the back corner of the room, "I can sense the island."

_"What?"_ Percy said. "Like...just now?"

Nico shrugged. "There was nothing to sense before. Now..." He angled his head to meet Percy's downtrodden gaze. "Somebody on the island is dying," Nico announced more loudly. Then he lowered his eyes. "One of ours."

...

Sebastian sat Annabeth down in a chair that came complete with shackles and bloodstains. He grabbed at her wrists.

"You don't need to chain up an injured teenage girl, do you?" Annabeth asked. "Am I that intimidating?"

Sebastian gave her a withering smile and locked the shackles around her wrists. Then he stood, bent over, with his face inches from hers. Annabeth found herself remembering Rachel's injuries. Not the image she wanted right now.

"I'm not going to try to trick you, Athena's daughter," Sebastian said at last. "That would be silly. Honestly, your brain is the only weapon you have."

_It's kept me alive this long, _Annabeth thought.

"So I'm going to tell you what I want you to do," he told her slowly, "and you're going to do it."

_Likely, _Annabeth thought sarcastically, but all the while she smiled and said, "Sounds like a plan."

Sebastian grinned terribly. "I'm glad to see you're so on-board with this. You might just survive." Then, without warning, he took out a dagger and sliced through the palm of her hand.

Annabeth made a pained sound, but Sebastian simply collected the blood into a tiny vial.

"Now," he sighed, "you're going to call to your mother."

"My mother?"

"Yes. Call her here. I need her."

"She won't come. In case you don't know, my mother and I had a falling out."

"And then you recovered the _Athena Parthenos_. She owes you."

"What do you need her for?"

"That's my business."

"I won't call her."

Sebastian's countenance darkened. "Yes you will," he said simply. Then one of his evil minions dragged a bloody, half-alive figure into the room.

"Connor!" Annabeth exclaimed, staring in horror at the beaten form of one of her favorite Hermes kids.

Sebastian brought his hand to her cheek and turned her head to face him. "You're too strong to be motivated by your own pain," he whispered. "Let's see how you fair with his."

Annabeth glared at him. She'd known Connor and Travis for years. They'd played Capture the Flag together, told jokes, clowned during sing-alongs, fought monsters in the Titan War. "Too far," Annabeth seethed, articulating every word perfectly. "You may think you're a Grade A villain, but you don't mess with my friends! I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Hero of Olympus! I've fought sphinxes, gods, Titans, and the Earth. You are not equipped for the war you've just started."

Annabeth hurriedly stopped speaking when the air behind Sebastian started shimmering. He grinned and straightened. "Sorry, Goldilocks," he sighed comfortably. "I lied about not tricking you."

And then Athena appeared in the room.

...

"Nice ship," Simon declared, grinning at Leo as he drove with his Wii controllers.

"Thanks, vamp," Leo answered. "Sorry we don't serve blood or raw humans."

Simon winced, which was not Leo's intention.

"Kidding, man," he hastened to amend. "Just hoping I'm not Item One on your Kill List."

"He'd be good for barbeque," Isabelle informed Simon mildly.

"Huh?" Simon said.

Leo lifted a pinkie (It was the most that he could spare.) and allowed it to briefly catch fire.

"Cool," Simon chuckled. "Do you do Bar Mitzvahs?"

"Sorry. I'm booked."

"So his hands catch fire," Magnus drawled. "Big deal."

"I spy with my little eye a jealous warlock," Leo said.

Magnus pointed a finger and sent blue sparks to zap the ground at Leo's feet. "Anything you can do, I can do better."

"I know that song," Frank mused. "I like that song. It's a nice song."

"Where did Alec go?" Isabelle wondered aloud.

"Oh, he's probably belowdeck trying to kill me again," Magnus sighed.

"Bane, I swear..."

"Guys!" yelled Alec as he ran out onto the deck carrying an unconscious Nico. "We were talking and he just collapsed."

He set the son of Hades on the ground, and everyone huddled around him, except for Leo, who was still steering.

The scrawny boy had gone pale (well, paler), his dark hair plastered to his forehead by a cold sweat. His lips were moving to frame silent words.

"What exactly were you doing?" Percy demanded.

"Just talking," Alec stammered. "He was telling me about the way his death senses work, and then he collapsed."

"F-feel..." Nico murmured laboriously. "I f-feel it." His tone had become urgent and breathless. He grabbed onto Percy's wrist, a death-grip. His eyes were wide and brimming with moisture.

"What do you feel?" Jason asked.

To everyone's surprise, the boy loosed a short sob before saying, "I feel the world burning."

...

Clary woke feeling sore all over and experiencing searing pain in select spots: her throat, for instance, burned from her efforts to scream past the Silencing rune Sebastian had placed on her. The rune seemed to have faded, now, as did the Binding rune.

"Have you seen my brother?" a voice asked from a dark corner of the room. Clary looked up to see a teenage boy with curly hair and fingers that tapped restlessly against the cold floor.

"No," she answered hoarsely. "I'm sorry."

The boy sighed and approached the door to the dark room, fiddling with the doorknob a bit. "I can't pick the locks," he sighed. "I've tried sixteen times."

"You're a demigod," Clary concluded suddenly.

The boy nodded. "Travis Stoll, son of Hermes."

Suddenly, the door swung open, granting entry to a malevolent-looking Sebastian, who was flanked by two henchmen. Somehow, Clary found the strength to crawl into a far corner.

Her brother chuckled. "Relax," he said sweetly. "I'm here for the son of Hermes." He turned to look at Travis, who had flushed.

"Where's my brother?" the boy demanded.

Sebastian shrugged casually. "Alive-ish, for now. He'll stay that way for a lot longer if you do something for me...now."

But just then, an image appeared in front of Sebastian's face, with all the irridescent beauty of an Iris message. The face in the message looked familiar.

"Percy!" Travis exclaimed.

"Sea boy," Sebastian chuckled.

"What did you do to Nico?" Percy asked without preamble.

"Just a little spell," Sebastian crooned. "I thought it would be interesting to see how Death Boy handled a bit of premonition."

"Where is Annabeth?"

"Oh, Goldilocks?" Sebastian smiled. "She's here. Getting a little weak, though...I think what she really needs is some company."

The image of Percy's face drew nearer, and Clary could see all that made the other demigods follow him; it was clearly reflected in his eyes. "Deal," was all he said.

A voice outside of the picture whispered, _"Calypso! What about Calypso?"_

But it was too late; Sebastian slashed a hand through the image, and it vanished. He turned to Travis again. "Now Stoll," he said with deadly calm, "you are going to call to your father for me."


	11. Chapter 11: Dead Giveaway

Annabeth was dropped, once again, into the basement with Jace.

"Did you see Clary?" he asked her immediately.

Annabeth held up her forefinger in a gesture that begged him to wait, like, ten seconds so that she could properly deal with the pain of landing on her injured ankle. Then, at last, she replied. "No. She wasn't there. Sebastian used me to summon my mom."

"Athena?"

"Yes. He used my blood to bind her; trap her in a cage."

"He trapped Athena?"

"Yes." Annabeth sat up, wrapping her arms around herself to guard against the cold. "I was wrong. His major goal isn't to Turn the demigods; he also wants the Olympians."

...

"He knows precisely when and how we're coming," Isabelle sighed. "We have exactly zero element of surprise."

"We _never_ had it,"Magnus replied. "He's always known our every move."

"That he thinks so proves that he will ultimately fail," Tessa said.

"That or we're screwed," Leo mused.

There was a sudden loud beep.

"What was that?" Frank asked.

"That was my cell phone," Simon answered, sounding somewhat exasperated. "My sister-"

_"YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE?"_ the demigods demanded.

"Sure," Simon replied warily.

"Turn it off!" Piper ordered, but before Simon could obey, a slew of winged monsters began to assail the ship.

"What's happening?" Jordan yelled.

"Technology and demigods don't mix!" Percy shouted back before uncapping Riptide and leaping into the air to slice through the belly of an approaching monster. "We may as well have fired off a flare gun."

"Oh, and I'm sure the giant battleship wasn't a dead giveaway," Alec retorted.

Leo suddenly yelled as one of the creatures sank its claws into his leather jacket and began to carry him away.

Isabelle slashed at the monster with her whip, and it exploded into dust, dropping Leo onto the deck once more.

"Is that thing made of imperial gold?" Jason asked before casually waving a hand and sending another one of the monsters flying away.

Isabelle didn't answer. She, Alec, and Percy were guarding the unconscious Nico. Behind then, Jem, Tessa, and Magnus fought. Tessa grabbed one of Jem's seraph blades, named it Ithuriel, and threw it into the heart of a monster mid-swoop. Frank and Hazel stood by Leo while the son of Hephaestus steered and dispatched what monsters neared them. Simon, Maia, Jordan, Jason, and Piper fought as a group.

Then, quite suddenly, silence descended. All of the monsters were gone.

Jordan staggered a bit and panted. "That was...easy," he noted.

In that instant, however, Nico gasped sharply and choked out, "Alec!"

As all heads turned, Alec brought a hand to his damp side. It came away moist and red.

"Alexander!" Magnus shouted, catching hold of Alec as he stumbled.

Nico gasped again, then. "He's dead," he breathed.

"N-No I'm not," Alec stammered.

"No...the half-blood. The one who was dying. He's dead now."

"Who was it?" Jason asked, crouching at Nico's side while Magnus set Alec down.

"Stoll," the boy coughed out. "C-Connor Stoll."

...

The son of Hermes had been gone with Sebastian for what felt like hours when the door opened. Clary looked up to see the wrong person outlined in the faint, yellow light.

"Little sister! There you are!"

"I haven't been hiding," Clary replied, though her voice shook, to her chagrin.

Sebastian crossed the room and scooped her up into his arms.

She tensed. "Let go of me!" she ordered shrilly.

Sebastian chuckled, the vibrations pulsing through Clary as well. "Nonsense," he said in a low voice. "We've barely interracted all day."

The way he said it brought bile to Clary's throat. If the way he'd behaved earlier, the cuts and bruises on her skin, hadn't come from "interraction", she was frightened to know what "interraction" felt like.

He carried her into the room of chained-up demigods, which fell utterly silent the moment he entered. Clary wondered grimly how long it hadd taken him to earn their fear.

Sebastian approached a beautiful girl who was being held at dagger-point beside a loom of red fabric.

"Have you finished with our uniforms, Calypso?" he asked the girl politely.

The girl turned a glare on him, but she answered calmly, "I've made thirty-five. I'm running out of fabric."

Sebastian grinned. "Don't be silly. You never run out of fabric."

"I'm not usually asked to clothe demonic armies," she answered, so coolly that it could almost be considered a casual remark.

"How about clothing my sister?" Sebastian asked, setting Clary down whilst keeping a tight grip of her arms, as though she was likely to blow away. "She'll need one."

"No," Clary answered immediately.

Sebastian bent to whisper in her ear, _"Don't resist,_" and she felt a cold sensation fall over her; helplessness. She could resist, but only if she wanted to endanger herself and everybody else. What a perfect all-purpose ultimatum Sebastian had crafted for her.

Calypso tucked one of the red outfits under her arm and led Clary to a side-room. Sebastian followed them. Clary's throat tightened at the thought of Sebastian watching her undress. After usherring Clary into the room, however, Calypso halted Sebastian at the door. "You can't come in here," she told him frankly. "This is the changing room. Girls only."

Sebastian stared at Calypso with his dark eyes, but she didn't falter, and after a few seconds, he backed out of the way and allowed the girl to close the door. Clary was amazed at Calypso's fearlessness, but then she saw her hands ttrembling as she unfolded the red gear.

"I can do it by myself," Clary said instantly.

Calypso handed her the gear, turned her back, and commenced humming quietly. Tthe tune was soothing and reminded Clary of a flowing river. An idea popped into Clary's head. "Are you the immortal girlfriend?" she asked Calypso.

"What?" Calypso asked, turning around.

"Leo said he had an immortal girlfriend on an island who liked singing and making stuff..."

"Fire Boy," Calypso whispered, in a way that made the epithet both endearing and exasperated. "Is he coming?" she asked Clary.

Clary nodded.

"Are you changing in there, dear, or do I need to come help you?" Sebastian called through the door.

Clary hastily ridded herself of her black gear and exchanged it for the red. She was certain that it wouldn't fit her, but then was shocked at how well the fabric managed to conform to her petit dimensions.

"This is very well-made," she noted, looking up at Calypso in awe.

"It fits well," Calypso agreed, nodding. "It may even be difficult to remove." She glanced pointedly at the door, behind which Sebastian lurked, and gave Clary a quick wink.

In that moment, Clary felt forever indebted to Calypso of the island.

...

Annabeth's shorts felt uncomfortably loose when she and Jace were done with their booby trap.

Really, it wasn't much of a booby trap; it her removing the belt from her waist and the pair of them securing it horizontally in front of the door so as to trip Sebastian. Not quite Loki-esque.

Still, it felt good to have done _something_.

Now, they just had to act natural.

"You know, he could use the Cup on us at any time," Jace commented.

Annabeth nodded, wiping a sheen of sweat from her forehead. "What would you do?"

"I'd die first," Jace answered immediately. "I'd rather die than lose my soul."

Annabeth made little circles on the ground with the toe of her sneaker. "Have you seen the Cup at work?"

"Ohhhh yeah."

"And once they've drunk from it-?"

"There's no going back. You can see it in their eyes. They're empty. Everything that was once inside of them is gone."

"Not everything," Annabeth disagreed automatically.

"What?"

"If they're an effective army, they have to still have the skills they had."

"Okay, so yeah, their minds are intact."

"Do they recognize faces?"

"Yes, but it's like everything is flipped into reverse for them; the more they used to love someone, the more they hate them now. You could violently murder your spouse, torture your brother."

Annabeth's mind raced. "But these feelings don't extend to their fellow demonic soldiers? How do they know the difference?"

"I guess they can just _tell_. It's coded into their blood, now."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed in contemplation as she thought of a moment in the darkest parts of Tartarus. "So...if someone could interfere with their blood," she said slowly, "would...could that change anything?"

"The Clave hasn't found any solutions, but we haven't exactly had many opportunities to test-"

The door opened, and a familiar, slim figure began to slowly enter. The light glinted off of his light blonnd hair.

Annabeth was honestly not glad to see Sebastian again.

He halted just before he could reach their trap. "Did you try to trip me with a belt?" he asked quietly. "My, my...I think someone may have to pay for that."

Annabeth raised her hand. "I'll do it."

"Do what?"

"Pay for it. You said someone might have to pay for that. I'll do it."

Sebastian looked amused. If Annabeth's offer confused him, he didn't show it. "What exactly are you suggesting, Goldilocks?"

Annabeth's heart gave an unwelcome flutter of apprehension (Perhaps it was only now catching up with her brain.), and she knew that Jace was staring at her, wide-eyed, so she didn't look at him. She kept her stormy eyes trained on Sebastian as she replied, "I want to drink from your Demon Cup."


	12. Chapter 12: Bread Crumbs

Hazel really wished that she'd been told more of the plan.

It wasn't that she didn't know her basic destination and objectives; it was just that she felt so _vulnerable_, wandering Calypso's halls with only her fears and a mosquito for company.

The others were somewhere, carrying out their little missions. Leo had ditched them about ten seconds after they landed on the beach, which was just lovely. He was probably trying to find Calypso, which would've been fine if it wasn't so reckless. At least Percy had organized a formal search party for Annabeth ("...and Clary and Jace," he'd half-heartedly added.).

Nico had told her the exact path to the Infernal Cup, but he couldn't accompany her; he was still too weak. She could sense it, now, through the walls; it was made of precious metal.

"Are you aware," a sly voice drawled behind her, "that you're leaving a diamond bread-crumb trail through the halls?"

Hazel whipped around to see the fair-haired boy who had to be Sebastian. He was flanked by two large men in scarlet uniforms, and one of the men was holding on to-

"Annabeth!" Hazel exclaimed. The older girl's deep, gray eyes were fastened on Hazel, but their owner was silent.

"This is exciting," Sebastian crooned. He was grinning and looking down at Hazel through his pretty eyelashes. "The daughter of Hades."

"Pluto," Hazel corrected him, unsheathing her sword.

Sebastian shrugged. "I tend to deal in the originals, not the knock-offs...A Roman isn't much to me. I suppose you'll just be another tester for the Cup."

In that moment, the mosquito that had been ringing around Hazel's head morphed and became Frank. Instantly, he loaded his bow and had it pointed at Sebastian, but the lean Shadowhunter didn't even flinch.

"Another Roman?" he drawled. "How disappointing."

Frank sent Hazel a glance. At this point, she had fought by his side enough to be able to read him. _That_ look meant _I'm fine here. You go ahead_.

She nodded and sprinted down the hallway.

She heard Sebastian order his minions to stop her, but she kept on running.

...

Possession did not make Sebastian's warriors fire-proof.

On the other hand, fire did not make Leo invincible. He _felt_ invincible, though, as he charged straight into the room where they were holding the demigods. Eager voices shouted his name (or, more accurately, what they thought to be his name. Most of them got pretty close, considering that Leo wasn't exactly the most popular boy in camp, but when one girl called him "Nico", it was a bit depressing.)

Then another voiced called out.

"Leo!"

He turned his head and saw her. She was standing at a loom, held there at knife-point, but her posture was as though she didn't notice the knife or didn't care. She began to run toward him, but the guy with the knife grabbed onto her and pressed the knife into her side. She rolled her eyes.

Leo, however, shouted, "Hey!" at her assailant and sent a jet of flames his way. His aim was impeccable, if he did say so himself; the man fell, and Calypso ran to him. Her braid trailed in the air behind her, her radiant eyes sparkling. Then she was in his arms.

"Leo! Leo, you stupid, _stupid_ mortal! What are you doing here?"

Leo backed off with a sideways smile. "Hello to you, too, _Your Highness_. What do you _think_ I'm doing here? I made a promise."

Drew, from the Aphrodite cabin, then crowed out, "And that's super sweet, but we're kind of in chains over here, hon!"

Leo sighed and dug a screw driver out of his tool belt. "Duty calls," he murmured with a martyred smile in Calypso's direction before starting on the first set of shackles.

...

Isabelle and Alec didn't quite enjoy being led by Percy Jackson. They couldn't tell what it was about him...It couldn't have just been because he was a demigod...Well, it could've. In fact maybe it was. Maybe it was because he was constantly so sure of himself...and because he was right to be.

No, not that...It was because everything was _so easy_ for him and his kind.

So yes. Because he was a demigod. So what?

He still respected their skills, which was fortunate; it saved time. Izzy would've loathed to have had to prove herself to someone all over again. Now, especially.

"Are you alright?" she murmured to Alec.

He nodded once, firmly. He had been given an iratze, and his wound seemed to be healed, but he was quite pale.

Percy turned to look at him. "Which way?" he asked, and Isabelle realized, with a start, that the surfer boy wasn't trying to be a leader here. He didn't care about how they saw him; he just wanted his friends back.

...which made Isabelle feel like trash for even _thinking_ about the balance of power. These people had the craziest effects on her mind...

"Here," Alec said, turning to the door of one of the many basement rooms. "He's here."

"Great," Percy sighed while Isabelle got out her stele. "Hopefully they all are."

Izzy drew the opening rune quickly, but the rune only faded.

"Of course," she sighed.

"There's always Plan B," Alec said grimly, then kicked down the door.

He obviously had not prepared for the true force of the impact; while he remained standing, he had to take a moment to grasp his ankle. Percy only spared him a glance before entering the cell. Isabelle hung back for a second, but when her brother waved her forward, she, as well, was absorbed into the dark.

"Jace?" she whispered.

Her other brother stood, still clad in his burnt gear and looking weary. Isabelle launched herself at him. "You _have_ to stop doing this," she told him firmly.

"I know," he sighed. "Gosh, I know."

"Where are the others?" Percy asked.

Jace lifted his head. "Sebatsian has them, he said flatly. "Sebastian has them both."


	13. Chapter 13: Ackbar the Angel

"Can you actually do this?" Jordan asked Magnus skeptically.

The warlock didn't glance Jordan's way when he replied, "You'd be stunned at the things I can accomplish when you aren't talking, Jeremy."

"Maybe one of us could try?" Piper suggested. "Charmspeak sometimes works on machines."

"Really?" said Simon, astounded.

"Yeah," Piper replied, sounding just as surprised as he was.

"Look, I'm already, like, halfway done," Magnus snapped.

Piper sighed, part of her mind busy missing Jason, who had gone with Tessa, Jem, and Maia on the Argo II to grab some backup.

"Someone's coming," Simon observed, and even Nico sat up to look where the vampire was pointing. Four figures were making their way to the chariot. "It's the Lightwoods...and Percy Jackson."

Nico inhaled. "Trap," he breathed. "They g-got out too easy."

"Lay down, Angel," Magnus ordered. "You're still trembling."

"Angel?" Nico repeated perplexedly.

"Your last name is di Angelo, isn't it?"

"Nobody's ever called me 'Angel' before."

"The prophecy did," Piper pointed out.

"It was predicting my near-death, though," Nico replied with a grim smile. "Not very flattering." Then he suddenly lost his smile and shuddered. "Oh, Styx..." He rolled over and vomitted.

"Hey!" Isabelle exclaimed as she climbed in. "Not in Apollo's chariot."

"Trap," Nico kept saying, with growing urgency. "It's a trap, it's a trap, IT'S A TRAP!"

"What is, Ackbar?" Simon asked.

Nico panted and replied, "Everyone out of the chariot!"

That was when an army of red-clad warriors surrounded the vehicle. At the hood stood a grinning Connor Stoll.

...

Hazel made it into the room first and closed the door after herself. Then she noticed that there were four identical tables in the room with four identical cups atop them. Upon placing a hand on each of them, Hazel confirmed that each was made of a different unfamiliar precious material.

"Styx," Hazel murmured. Then she shrugged and brought her sword down on the nearest cup. The cup shrivelled and turned black before exploding and sending both Hazel and the sword sailing through the air. "Styx!" she exclaimed again as her head swam. She stood unsteadily. Sword...where was her sword?

The door flew off its hinges, then, as about six evil warriors entered, on of them carrying Annabeth, who was struggling in his grip.

After a wild moment in which Hazel fully realized that she would never get to her sword in time, she snapped her fingers and altered the Mist. All of the dark Shadowhunters ran to the back corner of the room, out of Hazel's way, and the one who had been holding Annabeth dropped her.

"Do you have ambrosia?" Annabeth asked immediately. "My ankle..."

Hazel fished through her backpack and tossed Annabeth a tin of ambrosia.

"They've captured Athena and Hermes," Annabeth told her after downing a square. "I don't know if they've got any of the other Olympians."

"He captured them?" Hazel repeated in disbelief.

"I can free them," Annabeth said confidently. "But I'll need Leo's help."

"I think he's upstairs freeing the other demigods," Hazel said.

Annabeth smiled crookedly. "And my ankle's feeling better already."

...

"I thought you said Connor was dead," Percy said, turning to Nico almost accusingly.

"Soul's dead; body isn't," Nico replied tersely.

Alec loaded his bow and shot down the warrior who was blocking the door. Then, the occupants of the chariot flooded out and prepared to battle their adversaries.

"Where's Annabeth?" Piper asked Percy while he dispatched a soldier with Riptide.

"Frank said she's with Hazel when I passed him in the hall," Percy replied.

"What's the plan, then?"

"We storm the place."

Piper reached for her dagger, but it was missing. She had just looked around in alarm when Connor Stoll plunged Katoptris into her back.

...

Leo had just finished unchaining the last demigod when Frank entered the room, panting.

"Where are the others?" Leo asked him.

"Hazel and Annabeth are together...trying to destroy that Cup thing. Sebastian disappeared before I could fight him. Percy and the Lightwoods ran past on their way back to the chariot. Other than that, I don't know."

Before Leo could reply, Annabeth entered the room with a slight limp and a flush to her cheeks. "Valdez. This way. Now."

Leo apparently didn't respond fast enough; the daughter of Athena grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him after her down the hall. After a moment of hesitation, Calypso followed.

...

Clary was searching for a stele or a seraph blade in the bedroom in which Sebastian had locked her when he suddenly appeared on the bed.

Carrying the Infernal Cup.

"Good news," he said, approaching her. "Our enemies are here."

"I'm not drinking from that Cup," Clary told him, hefting a side-table lamp threateningly.

"No worries, sis," Sebastian sighed easily. He then set the Cup down on the night stand and snaked an arm around Clary's waist. "We got what we needed. Now it's time to leave."

"Let me go!" Clary screeched, kicking off of Sebastian's kneecaps and propelling herself out of his grasp. He laughed at her as she landed on the floor, having banged her head on the bedframe during the fall.

With a stele that he seemed to have removed from thin air, Sebastian began to draw Portal runes on the wall.

Clary wanted to make for the door, but her head was throbbing. "I thought you liked Ogygia," she murmured instead.

Sebastian chuckled. "There are plenty of other nice spots to visit. Have you ever seen New Rome?"

Before Clary could answer, Sebastian had grabbed her and the Infernal Cup, and they were hurtling through the swirling sand.


	14. Chapter 14: Mama Bear

It didn't take long for Annabeth, Leo, and Calypso to arrive in the room in which Annabeth had been strapped to the bloodstained chair, and in it they found, not the chair, but a figure sitting in a corner.

"Hermes!" Calypso exclaimed, and was immediately echoed by Annabeth.

The messenger god turned around, his expression grim.

"Where's my mother?" Annabeth asked him, her gaze darting around the room (not really in search of her mother, who was very clearly not there, but to avoid meeting Hermes's eyes. Their relationship was still very strained, after Luke.) "She was here. Where is she?"

"She was here," Hermes agreed. "Aphrodite was also here. That twisted _creature, _Jonathan Morgenstern, moved them after he murdered my son."

"Connor?" Annabeth gasped.

"Are you trapped?" Leo asked, approaching the hunched figure only to be thrown back by an invisible force.

"Well, I wasn't just sitting here because I felt like having a lazy day," Hermes said, his tone dry. "The boy made a circle of angelic runes around me. I can't escape."

"Angelic runes work on Greek gods?" Leo said skeptically.

"Most everything is descended from some kind of angel: Greek gods, Egyptian gods, Norse gods...We're all subject to the rules."

"That's why Nephilim can see through the Mist," Annabeth realized.

"And Piper's charmspeak," Leo added.

"And my invisibility hat. _Styx, _Styx, Styx. This is bad. We need a Shadowhunter to come free you...Calypso, can you run to Apollo's chariot and grab one of the Nephilim?"

Calypso gracefully crossed her arms. "I take it you're Annabeth?"

Before the daughter of Athena could fully react, the ground shook, and a loud "creak" filled the air.

Despite himself, Leo found himself grinning. "My ship is here."

...

Jason was always showing up late. This time, it was with Ares cabin and almost the entire rest of Camp Half-Blood, a bunch of werewolves, a few Shadowhunters, and no visible enemies to fight.

Where'd all the bad guys go?

The good guys, however, were all crowded together. A knot grew in Jason's stomach; he'd fought enough battles to know that formation. That was the formation people naturally assumed when someone was injured on the ground.

The moment the ship was grounded, Jason ran down to the group.

"Hey!" he called out.

The first person he saw was Nico. The boy was doubled over a few feet away from the rest of Team Good, breathing as though he'd just been vomitting. That was never good. And there went Jason's guilty covert hope that Nico was the one on the ground.

To chase the guilt away, Jason called out to the son of Hades, "You okay?"

Wordlessly, Nico pointed at the circle of crowded figures with an expression that confirmed Jason's fears. The look was mirrored on everyone else's face as they turned to him, and before his mind caught up with him, Jason was kneeling on the ground beside a barely-conscious, sprawled-out figure.

"Hey, Pipes," he breathed through his dry throat. His girlfriend's whole midriff was soaked scarlet, and her head lolled back, her eyes wandering until they found his face.

"Jason," she breathed.

"You're gonna be okay," Jason promised. "We've got ambrosia on the ship..." He trailed off, knowing that there was no way that ambrosia would work.

Piper took a deep breath. "I lost my knife..."

"That's okay," Jason insisted.

"Heavenly fire," Jace said suddenly. "Can't fire cauterize wounds?"

"Very bad idea," Magnus replied. "Jason, out of my way."

Jason tried to keep his position by Piper's side, but Magnus shoved him away.

"It's okay," Isabelle assured him. "Magnus is a great healer."

"Where is my daughter?" a red-haired Shadowhunter woman asked Jace. "Where is Clary?!"

"Sebastian Portaled with her," Jace answered, forcing himself to say the words as though they choked him on the way out. "Her and the Infernal Cup. They're not here."

...

Sebastian's hold on Clary never loosened, even when they landed in the dark room on the other side of the Portal.

"Where are we?" she asked him immediately.

"California," he answered.

"Not Rome?" Clary murmured.

"Not Rome," Sebastian agreed. _"New _Rome."

A lamp light came on, then, at the other side of the room, illuminating a large bed and a girl with long, dark hair, clad in a night gown. The girl rose swiftly to her feet, carrying a sword which she apparently kept with her during the night. All hints of sleep soon left her face. "Who are you?" she demanded regally.

"Praetor Reyna," Sebastian lightly drawled, angling his head as he sized the girl up.

"That's who I am," the girl agreed dryly, holding her sword as though ready at this very moment to fight. "Who are you?"

"I am Jonathan Morgenstern, but you call me Sebastian. I heard that you have a fairly stressful job, so I arrived to relieve you of it."

Reyna attacked.

...

The members of Team Good Extended Addition (the seven- minus Piper -Nico, Rachel, Grover, all of Camp Half-Blood, Simon, Tessa, Jem, half of the New York werewolf pack, Jordan, and the Shadowhunter crew, minus Clary) all waited tensely in the dining room for some sort of plan to arise. Piper and Magnus were on-deck, working on keeping Piper alive. Calypso had stayed on the island with Hermes. Simon imagined that she was afraid to leave, now.

"Why would he take Minerva and Venus and leave Mercury?" Frank wondered aloud.

"I mentioned Athena in a prophecy, I think," Rachel deadpanned. "That's probably why he wants her. Aphrodite...I don't know. Maybe he has a complicated love life."

"We should notify the Clave," Maryse said stiffly.

"No phones around Half-Bloods," Grover sighed.

"Fire message, then," Jocelyn suggested.

"Try Iris message," Alec interjected.

"Yes!" Jace agreed. "We can Iris message Sebastian, find out where he is-"

"-and where Clary is," Luke agreed.

"Exactly!"

"What's an Iris message?" Maryse asked.

"That doesn't matter," Percy said. He seemed more relaxed, with Annabeth back, but still more than ready for battle. "What matters is that we only have one drachma left. You'll have to choose: Clave or Clary?"

"Clary," Jocelyn answered immediately.

"It's not that simple," Maryse protested.

"Yes it is," Jocelyn fired back. "We use the Iris message for can fire message the Clave."

After a moment of pondering, Maryse nodded her consent, but she was glaring daggers at Jocelyn all through the rest of the meeting.

"Simon," Isabelle said suddenly, "have you eaten?"

Simon guessed that he must have looked pretty hungry. "Not recently, no."

"By the Angel, Lewis, you've got to stop doing this," Jace sighed.

"I'm fine," Simon said.

"Are we, like, offering a blood tribute or something?" Leo asked. "Because, if so, let me be the first to say Not it!"

"Forget this," Jocelyn said firmly, which, from someone Simon had known for most of his life, kind of stung. She turned on Percy. "Iris message! Now!"

Percy raised his eyebrows, seeming to not love being shouted at. "Look, lady, you're a mortal, so I guess you don't understand-"

Annabeth jumped in before he could send Ms. Fray into Mama Bear Mode: "Iris messages require a rainbow."

Yep. This was Simon's second time hearing it, and it still sounded no less silly. "Is there an alternative form of communication that you guys have?" he asked. "Preferably one that involves unicorns or wishing on stars?"

"Maybe not the best idea to irritate Iris before we ask for her help," Rachel, the red-haired mortal girl, suggested.

"Well, make a rainbow, then," Jocelyn ordered. "Do we have a prism?"

Sighing, Alec took out his witchlight and shone its light against his seraph blade. Colors glittered along the tabletop.

Annabeth slid him the drachma.

...

When Sebastian released her to fight the girl named Reyna, Clary tried to run out of the bedroom door, but it was instantly blocked by a giant metal dog.

She screamed and ducked into a corner, but the dog did not chase her; instead, it lunged at Sebastian, who was so busy battling Reyna (The girl, surprisingly, managed to put forth a decent fight, though Sebastian bore down on her with his blade.) that he was barely able to evade. When he did dodge the metal dog's razor-sharp teeth, he unknowingly sent himself into the range of a second metal dog, this one gold-colored, which bit him in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground with a shout of pain.

Then, just as Reyna was bent to deliver her final blow, he laughed and sprung to his feet. With a motion that was too fast for Clary's eyes to comprehend, Sebastian was behind the Praetor, grabbing her around the waist with one arm and pressing his seraph blade to her throat with the other. Both of them stood immobile and panting, then. Sweat stuck the girl's dark hair to her forehead.

"Daughter of Bellona," Sebastian whispered after those tense few seconds. "I have no use for you."

"PROTOCOL 48!" Reyna shouted, her voice ringing through the silence as she called out- for help, Clary imagined.

Then, with a single swipe, Sebastian slit her throat. Her body hit the ground loudly, and Clary covered her face and released a quiet sob.

Suddenly, he was hauling her to her feet and pinning her to the bedroom wall. In her horror and fear, she didn't even fight back. He ran a hand along her cheek. "Come, sister," he breathed. "Let us meet the Roman Legion."

Then he grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the bedroom.

And the crew on the Argo II saw all of it.


End file.
